Unwanted Amazon packages – Consumer Center: Goods may be used

Currently, some Amazon customers receive packages, although they have not ordered anything, say consumer advocates. Nobody can say what the whole thing is about.

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Amazon customers are currently reporting mysterious packages arriving there. These are sometimes expensive items, such as a pair of binoculars or a smartphone. The affected customers have neither ordered anything, nor is it a gift from relatives or acquaintances. This reports the consumer center North Rhine Westphalia.

Some customers report that they received packages up to six times within one week. The consumer advocates close doing identity theft or another case of ordering fraud. Even package-runners could be excluded in the known cases, in which a colorful hodgepodge of goods from the mousetrap to the smartphone stuck in the packages.

Amazon speaks of fraud

Amazon itself speaks of "fraudulent methods," writes the consumer center NRW. It is clear to the consumer advocates only that the shipments are not from Amazon itself, but from various dealers who use the marketplace of the commercial giant as a sales platform.

What's behind the whole thing is unclear. It is speculated that dealers from the Far East should open a second account on behalf of the addressee and buy the articles about it. As a result, the respective product in the Amazon sales ranking. In addition, the dealer's shop can be rated positively with the account.

Another guess: Traders are emptying their Amazon warehouses instead of shipping unsold products back to China. It would be cheaper to send the goods to random addresses in Germany. Against the thesis, however, speaks that among the products also expensive smartphones.

Customers are allowed to keep packages

Anyone who receives unsolicited parcels from dealers need not keep the goods in them. This is pointed out by the Verbraucherzentrale Nordrhein-Westfalen. There is not even the obligation to contact the sender if a proof of origin is found on or in the package.

Even an invoice, if enclosed, does not have to be paid. According to the consumer advocates, the recipient has the right to use, give away or dispose of the goods themselves in such packages.